Felicia’s Story of Recovery from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

If you’re reading this, you’re probably scared to death. For that I’m deeply sorry. No one deserves this specific, unnecessary hell. But there is hope. Read on.

I was floxed on March 1, 2017. It was absolutely the most terrifying experience of my life.

I was horribly nauseated at first and then had a massive panic attack (I’ve never had one before). Nasty insomnia. I stopped after three pills (250 mg each). I’d taken a course of Cipro at least one time before, and I’m unsure before that. I was never adversely affected. From a genes perspective, my father has taken Cipro no less than 20 times in the past 20 years and has never had an issue (!). FQs are bastards that way: randomly pummeling lives and then doing nothing at all…

I Googled Cipro immediately and was horrified by what I found. Luckily I found Lisa and Floxihope, read all the information and got the supplements, and prayed a great deal on my knees. Lisa has probably saved many lives. She saved mine.

My first symptoms could have been from the Diflucan antifungal I took concurrently. Either way, I was initially severely depleted of potassium and this affected by wrists. They hurt so much I couldn’t sleep. Potassium alleviated the pain for a while. Many joints clicked. It was weird. I think it was from dehydration because my fingertips pruned within seconds of coming into contact with any liquid. I was severely dehydrated for about 11 months. I initially had elevated cortisol (I saliva tested this), and I think this contributed to the anxiety. (For high cortisol/anxiety, you can take holy basil and vitamin c and magnesium.) My arms would go coldish numb. My calf muscles were scary sore and so stiff. The persistent symptom I had was rampant twitching and cramping of my legs, achy, achy. I became acidic. My blood sugar was on a constant loop, and I developed bad acne. My adrenals took a hit, and I suffered from low cortisol and derealization/depersonalization. I was so depressed I thought of suicide a lot. I was not myself, and it was so frightening.

Most important:

Panicking does not aid in healing — stay off scary websites — your body and mind have been traumatized enough

No steroids — prednisone, cortisone shots. Do not do it. Doctors will say it’s fine, and it’s NOT — it says so in the Cipro leaflet

Probiotics, probiotics, probiotics. Cipro wrecks your guts and you need them in good shape to absorb nutrients and also to stave off candida. You don’t want candida. Trust me.

If you get candida, try grapefruit seed extract, capsule full every day for two weeks

Milk thistle to detox your liver

Collagen plus vitamin C

Boron to detox Cipro’s fluoride

Bone broth for the gut and the amino acids (brain food)

Alpha lipoic acid for nerve stuff/peripheral neuropathy

Fish oil for brain health

Liquid chlorophyll

Acupuncture helps many. It eased my initial panic.

Liposomal glutathione helps many if you have the right genes

What I recommend most is something that Lisa discussed in her recovery story: meditation. Science has proven it alters the brain in positive ways. It’s difficult to get in the habit, but once you do, it truly changes your life.

The following is disheartening but the truth: conventional doctors are trained in drugs and schooled by the pharma industry. They probably will not help you. I trusted my doctor, and he did me wrong. By the time my Rx was filled, Cipro was black boxed for UTIs, and my doc was informed to not Rx them for UTIs. He was ignorant. Simply, you can’t trust doctors. The best thing I ever did was ditch pharma remedies (my thyroid med is safe) and seek assistance from Chinese medicine and naturopathic care. I believe the answers are generally in what you’re lacking nutritionally or what’s malfunctioning as a system within you. Naturopathic care looks at this, allopathic Western medicine mostly doles out drugs as Band-Aides. The entire American healthcare system is built on profit. Drugs have their place, yes. I truly do respect drugs, but they are harmful sometimes. The best thing we can do is eat real, healthy food, and exercise, and stay connected to the earth and each other. That’s always been the path to wellness.

Today, my legs are almost non-bothersome. I’m slowly digging out of depression with the help of adrenal support (center for cortisol) and thyroid medication. I just started running again. I pray every day in gratitude I wasn’t hit worse. I pray for other floxies. This drug needs to be axed, and I admire the strength and persistence of those attempting to get it off the market. I have informed my doctors I am allergic to Cipro and all FQs. I say I had anaphylaxis, which isn’t true, but they won’t accept what really happened so I just cut to the chase; no one is going to argue or question anaphylaxis. I also informed my family members in case I’m ever unconscious in an accident. No FQs. I’ll take death over this experience again. That’s another truth.

Miracles happen. Keep going. You are not alone. People care and are praying for you!

Eternal thanks to Lisa and all her research and care and Floxiehope.com and all the other recovery stories that kept me positive.

Felicia G.

** The story above is truthful, accurate and told to the best of the ability of the writer. It is not intended as medical advice. No person who submits his or her story, nor the people associated with Floxie Hope, diagnoses or treats any illness. The story above should not be substituted for professionally provided medical advice. Please consult your doctor before trying anything that has been mentioned in this story, or in any other story on this site. Please also note that people have varying responses to the treatments mentioned in each story. What helps one person may not help, and may even hurt, another person. It is important that you understand that supplements, IVs, essential oils, and all other treatments, effect people differently depending on the millions of variables that make each of us unique. Please use appropriate caution and prudence, and get professional medical advice.

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23 thoughts on “Felicia’s Story of Recovery from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity”

Bless you… I needed your story of hope today! Thank you! Same situation- I take these things once in my life- disaster- my father was on them for months at a time, several times, and nothing! I hope you continue to heal. This was a derailment, but it sounds like you are getting back on the track. If you can go running, that is really something to celebrate!

Hi Felecia when you say almost a year do you know how long
To be precise ? Anyone on here can also chime in . I’m currently 3 months post floxed .

FeliciaGJune 24, 2018 at 2:41 pm

For me, my derealization got better after thyroid medication and sleep. About 11 months. I believe it’s largely due to stress and lowered dopamine. I had it severely. Severe derealization. I didn’t know myself whatsoever and I did some things that were deeply out of character. I’ll pray for you.

KellyJuly 4, 2018 at 5:37 pm

Hi Felicia can you try calling again I got a new phone 310-432-3381 . Any tips can help me . Thank you .

SandiAugust 15, 2018 at 12:15 am

Hi Kelly
I was floxed in June of 2018, so I’m going on my third month now. How are you feeling now?

Felicia. What did you take to help your cortisol levels?? I am struggling some with my adrenals trying to balance it out. My mornings are in overdrive…very anxious and wakeup early. So I think it is my adrenals. Not sure what to do for them. I take low dose (5mg) of DHEA but that is it for now. Any suggestions?? Also congrats on your recovery!!! You were lucky you took such a low dose of cipro and recovered fairly quickly. Continued healing to you…are you still doing better and continuing to improve all the time? I hope so. I am 15 months out and much improved but still dealing with early wakeup, anxiety, tinnitus and urgent bathroom needs in early morning which again I think is adrenal related?? Hope to hear back from you!

Hey guys so I’m seven months out from being floxed and these are the things I still struggle with. Maybe someone can help. I have severe weakness and fatigue. The weakness is bad. When I walk I feel like I will drop dead . I have no idea what that is . Did anyone have it ? And does the weakness go away? Also still have depersonalization and derealization really bad . All the days are blurring together . Sometimes I feel dumb. Trying to find the right words to speak. For those that had these symptoms and had them leave . How long did it take and what kind of helped. Felicia I see you had it really bad as well . Glad to see it gone. Was your improvement gradual ? Or did you wake up one day and the depersonalization and derealization was gone?

Felicia: I think I was floxed more than 2 years ago. I have horrible neuropathy in my feet and drop foot in my left. Traditional doctors can’t find anything wrong with me at all, but know that it is dire. Not one will even listen to my concern about Cipro. Can you tell me if you know people with both muscle and nerve damage? I want to try this regiment…Any help is appreciated?

Thanks for sharing your story! Are you by any chance able to run again yet? Are your legs not bothersome enough to the point where you can actually do some real exercise? Or is walking too many steps still a challenge?

Hi really glad I came across this. I too only took a small amount well one day of the tablets. Two tablets only thank god because I had googled them the day before and not found anything negative the day I took them I felt weird I couldn’t sleep I googled again and found they’ve been suspended by European parliament. I went to a herbalist for the original infection but this is really good advice and actually goes along with her recommendations no sugar wheat dairy c magnesium all the minerals veg juicing and she made me a tincture. I’m ok I’m not panicking I am hoping I am lucky. I have wrist pain bizzare pains I’ve never had before super tight calf’s it is a bit scary to think in six months time my legs might explode. So I want to make sure I do everything I can as with other drugs symptoms are when you take the drug with this bullahit the side effects can kick in in six months. My doctor was an unreal bastard about it as well he threw me out of the office calling me agressive which I was not at all I was actually not blaming him I figured he didn’t know and would want to know. Not at all he slammed the door in my face. It was unbelievable and the thing that bothered me most I said if you know this now surely you won’t be giving it to anyone else he said it’s perfectly fine. Oh my god. I called every department none of them wanted to take any responsibility all were so defensive especially the regulatory authority who are responsible for educating doctors about drugs. The fact as well that when I first googled it whatever way I worded it I only got positive info and nothing about it being banned is bizzare. Like Google is so important to people it would be like if a library put the most important public health information in the back shelves of the basement. I don’t know how or why I got two different sets of results so vastly different maybe just down to my spelling. Anyway thank you thank you. Honestly I have more respect for a bacteria which might kill me than doctors at this point.